Review Submitted By: Vinr
Author Status: Player
Started on Aardwolf: 11 May 2005
Submission Date: May 13, 2005
TMC Listing: Aardwolf
The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Vinr]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.
A New Players Perspective: It is hard to be the new guy. Aard Mud is
rich in rooms, mobs, and friendly players, but this is not a good
starting mud for new players.
The amount of text zooming by when first starting is beyond
intimidating. New players need to 'channel' to shut off almost
everything to start with. The immortals should consider more friendly
starting options.
On the good side, the low level mob areas are well defined and
appropriate for new folks. And there is a lot of help available in the
form of web sites with posted speedwalks and lots of other info. The
monsters have plenty of gold and equipment. And there Newbie helpers
available to answer the huge number of questions a new player will
have on this site.
However, For new players, there is so much information that needs to
be taken in, that you can spend hours just trying to get handle on
basic play. For example, I spent a couple of hours looking up the
equipment that may be picked up so easily, until someone mentioned
that it doesn't matter very much at low levels on this mud.
Activities for players are also a mixed bag. There is an excellent
quest system, with level appropiate tasks for new players. There are
also frequent 'Wars' with players killing players without any real
loss of equipment or stats. However, these 'Level' based battles are
not appropriate for new players. Very experienced players manipulate
the level system so that they can compete as low level players even
after beating tens of thousands of mobs and maxing out their stats.
In closing, I would say that Aard Mud has great richness, but newbies
need to watch out for this one.
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Submit Comments About this Review
Comment Submitted By: Zharal
Author Status: Player
Started on Aardwolf: 2005
Submission Date: Mar 16, 2006
(The following review comment is the opinion of the comment's author
[Zharal] and in no way represents the opinions of this website
or its staff).
I will preface my comments on this review by stating that I did not
come to Aardwolf as a mudding newbie; nevertheless, I feel that some
tempering of Vinr's remarks is in order.
The first time I logged on to a mud, I had a real-life friend at my
side who had experience in the mud. Without his aid in getting
started, I probably would have given up and gone back to something
familiar rather than spend the time it would take to sort out all the
text coming to my screen. Add to this the fact that the world
allowed player killing virtually anywhere (albeit with no loss of
equipment unless you were a player thief - which of course was also
allowed anywhere you could pkill) and I guess you could say I picked
a newbie-unfriendly mud for my first experiences.
Despite such a start, I progressed, made friends and met my eventual
real-life spouse. Along the way I learned some things the hard way,
and other things by watching what happened with other players. You
couldn't pay me enough to buy a recommendation to start mudding at
the world where it all began for me, though.
Aardwolf is different. If you truly are new to mudding, rest assured
that you will find helpers who can give you insights and show you
where to look for answers, even if it's something that the mud shows
you every time you connect but gets lost in spam. Player vs. player
combat is totally optional for all players involved, and it is
possible to play without ever becoming involved in it. If you are
bloodthirsty, though, keep in mind that it is possible for players to
build up at level 1 through tireless (and tedious) questing to become
unbeatable by players in their range who haven't done the same thing.
It's really up to you to decide whether Aardwolf is right for you,
and that goes for inexperienced mud players exactly as much as it
goes for veterans. I say give it a try - you might get hooked like
I did!
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Comment Submitted By: snugglepot
Author Status: Player
Started on Aardwolf: January, 2006
Submission Date: Jun 13, 2008
(The following review comment is the opinion of the comment's author
[snugglepot] and in no way represents the opinions of this website
or its staff).
Aard now has a brilliant 'Academy' zone! This is an area where
complete newbies can work through a series of 'tutors' for each
important aspect of mudding. Not only does it help teach newbies the
basics, but it also includes some very useful and useable rewards in
terms of equipment, gold and experience points.
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